Advent Tales
by XxTheMoonRiddlexX
Summary: The Sandman gets this fabulous idea: to bring back the celebration of Advent to the Guardians of Childhood! But what happens when his treasure hunt game causes Jack Frost to end up in Wichita, KS and his staff in the Rocky Mts. of Colorado? Or when four of the Guardians show up in Burgess to tell Jamie that Jack is MIA and a small white-haired bunny is at his door that can talk?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:I do not own ROTG or any of it's characters. Dreamworks and William Joyce get that honorable claim.**

***I will do this probably every year for I don't know how long. But it will be my annual 'Guardians Christmas story!**

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_**ADVENT TALES – 2012**_

**Week One-Honors stones,crystals, seashells and bones **

It had been many years since the Guardians of Childhood had celebrated Advent together. North (aka Santa Claus), the Guardian of Wonder, was going crazy with all of the work creating toys for Christmas though, making gatherings quite hard in November and December.

When the Sandman (aka Sandy), who was the Guardian of Dreams, realized that the other Guardians had forgotten the celebration of Advent, he suggested that the tradition be reinstated. He soon realized that this was easier said than done, owing to the blank looks on his friends faces. Sandy made up a game to reintroduce his fellow Guardians to this celebration the coming of the light, mentally face palming the whole time.

One night, the Guardians were gathered at the North Pole in North's palace after finally convincing him to take the night off. They had fun drinking eggnog and playing Snow and Dreamsand, their version of apples to apples when Sandy communicated through silent golden sand images that he wanted to explain his Advent game. It took a long time to guess what Sandy was trying to get across because only the Tooth Fairy enjoyed this kind of guessing game. She was the Guardian of Memories and was older than the mountains, yet younger then ocean.

After half an hour of dream sand flying everywhere and elves being shaken to bring order, the Tooth Fairy had to interrupt an argument between Jack Frost, the Guardian of Fun, and E. Aster Bunnymund (aka the Easter Bunny). Bunnymund was the Guardian of Hope. Finally, the Guardians figured out that Sandy had planned a treasure hunt/hide-and-seek. His idea went like this: The Sandman would leave clues in the shape of either diamonds or stones with pictures on them to point them in the right direction and eventually the trail would lead to him.

This was no ordinary treasure hunt around the North Pole, though. This game would take the Guardians around the world. There was one rule. They couldn't use the Globe of Belief to locate the Sandman. "Ay…_genial,"_ Tooth knew every language in the world. Sandy asked his friends to count to one thousand and he disappeared with a whoosh of golden dream sand.

When the four other Guardians opened their eyes, a giant diamond with two pictures on it floated in front of them. One picture showed an arrow pointing up and the second was an Easter Egg. After staring at the diamond for some time, Bunny asked, "What the bloody hell does that mean?" North replied skeptically, "You're the one with the Easter eggs, remember?"

After circling the floating diamond made of golden dream sand, Tooth observed, "Doesn't an arrow pointing up on a map mean 'north'?" Jack rolled his eyes and said sarcastically, "Yeah, but we're pretty much as far north as you can get."

"Does that mean we're supposed to follow an Easter egg north?", North asked emphatically.

"But my Easter eggs hate the cold so they wouldn't go north," replied Bunnymund, glaring at Jack Frost.

"Well, we could start where the Easter eggs are _stored_," suggested Jack.

Tooth exclaimed cheerfully, "Oh, that makes_ perfect_ sense!"

"Hey Kangaroo, er…Bunnymund," asked Jack, "what's in the northern part of your warren again?"

"That section has the eight tunnels to each continent, don't ya remember?" answered Bunnymund.

With that, even though North protested against using the tunnels, the Guardians fell through a hole in the floor along tunnels into Bunnymund's warren. Unfortunately for Phil the giant yeti, he fell down the tunnel, too.

Upon arriving at the eight dividing tunnels, sure enough, there was another clue in the form of a pyramid floating above their heads. One of the hummingbird like tooth fairies called Baby Tooth indicated that instead of two pictures, there were now four on the bottom of the pyramid.

"I think that's Africa," said Jack. "And that one's North America. Oh, Europe is over there with Greenland nearby."

In the end, the four Guardians determined that they should split up to look for the rest of the clues. Lots were drawn and Jack went to Greenland, North got Europe, Bunny got North America, and Tooth would be flying to Africa. Although they thought that they were headed in the right direction, three of them were very wrong…

After thirty minutes of flying in the tunnel to South Africa, Tooth began to get the feeling that something wasn't quite right when she ran into a dead end that she didn't remember being there last Easter. After searching for a way around, Tooth was left with no other choice but to return to Bunny's warren. She sighed, thinking of the teeth she could be admiring instead.

Meanwhile, in the tunnel to France, North was trudging along trying to shake off a stray elf that had _somehow_ followed him. Eventually, North looked down to grab the elf off his foot and tripped. You might have expected that North would have learned not to leave snow globes in his pockets after _previous_ _incidences_, but once again, a snow globe rolled out of North's pocket. It broke open when it hit the stones. With a burst of light and a yell, the elf was left standing holding onto - nothing.

Tooth, who'd been kneeling in the grass having a conversation with Baby Tooth, looked up as the end of a portal appeared in front of her. She ducked as a red giant flew out of the portal yelling at the top of his lungs. Tooth cringed peeking through her fingers at a very disgruntled North.

"Oh goodness, are you OK?", Tooth gasped, running over to North. He nodded as he stood up. After a quick summary of each other's adventures, Tooth asked, "I wonder what happened to Jack and Bunny?" Little did she know that she would find out soon after.

Meanwhile, far away in Greenland, Jack was getting _seriously_ frustrated. He'd been following a trail of dreamsand but could not find the end of it. It sparkled and seemed to taunt him. "Great! I bet the _Kangaroo_ is already at the next clue by now," Jack complained to himself.

Sighing, Jack removed one of the emergency snow globes that he kept in his pocket and commanded, "Take me to Bunny's warren." Sadly, the snow globe did not catch the end of his directions, they were gone with the wind. Although Jack thought he'd be going back to the meeting place of the eight dividing tunnels, when he opened his eyes again, he was no where near there. Not even close.

In the Colorado Rocky Mountains, the Easter Bunny was bounding down Pike's Peak chasing an Easter egg that was rolling away. Not noticing where he was going, Bunny ran head first into a pine tree. "Owww." Shaking himself out of his tumble, he grabbed the stray egg and dashed behind another pine tree to hide as he felt the ground rumble below him.

Bunny backed up slowly as a portal opened on the ground and a long flying _thing_ shot out of it. As he ducked, he caught of glimpse of what almost looked like, Jack's **staff**. "No way!" exclaimed Bunnymund, hopping over to the stick as he held the struggling egg. But it _was_ Jack's staff. And if it was Jack's staff, then where was it's incredibly annoying counter-part?

After scanning through the pine forest, Bunnymund saw no sign of Jack Frost.

"I'll bet he's just hiding to try to scare me," mused the Easter Bunny. After waiting for ten minutes with no sign of Jack, Bunnymund became worried. Suddenly, a whistling sound filled the air. The last thing that Bunny saw before he lost consciousness was a golden dream-sand baseball five centimeters from his face.

Sandy had thrown his dream-sand baseball at Bunny for a reason. His Guardian friend had been too close to finding the next clue. Since the other Guardians had yet to catch up with Bunny, Sandy found a solution to stall Bunny temporarily.

Back in the warren, Tooth and North were debating about whether they should use their last snow globe to locate their friends. Eventually, they decided that it was essential to find at least one of the missing Guardians.

"We should probably find Jack since he's the least reliable," suggested North. Tooth agreed and dashed the snow globe on the green grass as their feet.

"Show us Jack Frost!," she commanded it. What the snow globe revealed was the probably one of the most surprising things that either of the Guardians had ever seen.

Jack Frost was sitting on the ground looking almost like a child with the flu. He was absent-mindedly tracing patterns into the dirt and behind him was a sign with the name of the city where he'd landed.

"Wichita? As in, KANSAS?!" North burst out. "Why would Jack be there?"

"And where, is his staff?," Tooth muttered to herself.

Suddenly, with a loud pop, the portal disappeared. "Where did it go? " Tooth asked, turning to North.

"The emergency portals don't usually last as long as the standard ones, I forgot," explained North.

"Does that mean that we're stuck here because we no longer have a portal, because the tunnels don't work so well for me," Tooth said, gesturing to her wings.

"We're not necessarily stuck here _**permanently,"**_ replied North with a glint in his eye. "We wouldn't have to travel as far in the tunnels."

After forty-five minutes of walking and partial flying, two very disgruntled Guardians burst out of Bunny's tunnels back into North's workshop. They both agreed that this had not been one of the more comfortable experiences they'd had in their long lives, walking from Australia to the North Pole.

Launching the sleigh was always a big deal at Santa's workshop. After going through the loop – de – loops and zigzags through the uphill launch tube, Tooth and North began the long flight to Kansas. "Every time North?" Tooth groaned. "What? Is fun, yes?" North laughed despite himself.

Jack was beginning to feel uncomfortably warm, although it was winter in Wichita. His usual body temperature was 32 degrees Fahrenheit but now his body temperature was about 40 degrees. Without a staff, Jack was unable to use the wind to fly away from Wichita so he sat in the shade of a tree in a park drawing frost patterns in the ground. He hoped that one of the other Guardians would realize soon what had happened to him.

The wait seemed like eternity to Jack Frost, although only two hours had passed. He shook his head, trying the clear the dizziness that was starting to overcome him. Looking up at the sound of bells, Jack was surprised to see North's sleigh speeding toward him. Finally, he'd be able to get out of Wichita!

Before they could bombard him with questions, Jack said, "Don't even ask. It's a long story…" Suddenly, a sparkling speck of dream-sand floated in front of them. "After it!" Jack yelled. Tooth soon realized that they were being led west to the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.

"Stop! Look down there!," Jack called out, looking at a lump of grey fur in the forest below them. Soon, they realized that it was Bunnymund and they landed. Almost reluctantly, North gave Jack the honor of waking the Easter Bunny up, which probably wasn't the best idea in the world. Excited at seeing his staff near Bunny, Jack laughed silently and frosted the ground surrounding Bunny.

Feeling the cold, the Easter Guardian shot nearly ten feet into the air.

"Mother of Nature! What was **THAT** for?!", Bunny yelled at Jack who'd jumped up into the tree branches above him. "Well, I had to wake you up somehow," Jack retorted.

Tooth and North tried not to laugh at their friends' squabble.

"Why were you asleep?" Tooth asked Bunny.

"I'm not quite sure. I think something hit me in the head," Bunny rubbed his eyes as he gazed around them. Before anyone else could speak, a shout sounded. "Hey! Look you guys!," Jack pointed at a shell made of dream-sand.

Scrambling over to the golden shell, the four Guardians stared at the picture, tying to decipher what it meant. The image was a shell with a candle in the middle. Going to the other side of the floating dream=sand shell, North leaned closer to see the picture of an arrow pointing up and a Christmas present.

"It's come full circle," North muttered. Tooth flew over to North to see what he was looking at and said, "Well, there's only one place where that's pointing to!" Jack looked at it skeptically, then asked "Where?" Bunny rolled his eyes.

The four tired Guardians stumbled into North's living room only to find the Sandman smiling at them, holding a cup of eggnog. Four other cups were on the coffee table. "Please don't tell me that you've been here the whole time," Jack whined. Sandy simply shrugged. Although not satisfied with Sandy's answer, the Guardians slumped onto the couch and enjoyed warm cups of eggnog. Silently, Sandy gave them pleasant dreams and left his exhausted friends to sleep peacefully.

Almost…all four sleeping Guardians didn't realize that the small sunflower _walking _behind them in their dreams was really the Sandman and not part of some crazy dream until they woke up again the next day. **"SANDY! FOR THE LOVE OF CUPID, WERE YOU IN MY **_**DREAMS**_**!? GET BACK HERE!" **_(Then the Sandman hid in North's fruitcake cupboard for the rest of the week)_

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**_REVIEW AND ALSO RAISE YOUR HAND IF YOU THINK THIS WAS PRETTY RANDOM!_**

_reviewreviewreviewreview!_

**_I kinda need a random, humor filled story to do cause we all need more laughter 'round here so if anybody is feeling happy and helpful today, story time SOS!_**

**_XxTheMoonRiddlexX_**


	2. Chapter 2

**This was SO funny to me. I remembered someone had and idea with the coffee and Mini Faires and I used it but changed it a lot to make more sense to my story. To whoever that author is: If you really would like me to change this chapter, I invite you can review or PM me and I promise to change/delete this.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own ROTG, though no one can really OWN Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Sandman, the Tooth Fairy or Jack Frost...**

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**Advent Week 2 _–__ Green plants that grow and seed and in the breezes dance._**

Flying above a wide field of golden sunflowers, a mini-fairy by the name of Baby Tooth was whizzing back to the palace of the Tooth Fairy. In her tiny hands, she held a pearly white tooth. After flying from Arizona to Bali, Baby Tooth was getting tired. She glided to a stop on the petals of a fragrant white gardenia.

Quickly looking at her surroundings, the little fairy noticed a strange green plant waving at her in the breeze. Curiosity got the better of her and she flew slowly over to the plant to investigate. Still holding the tooth, she stared at one of the leaves. It was sparkling in the sun with slender rays of light reflecting from its lush green color. It looked quite beautiful. First, Baby Tooth sniffed it. After debating with herself, she quickly tore four of the leaves off the plant's stalk, folded them into her small bag and whisked away, trying to make up for lost time.

"Oh, finally, Baby Tooth! I was afraid that you were lost," exclaimed the Tooth Fairy. Baby Tooth wearily handed over the molar that she'd been carrying to one of her fairy friends and went off to find a nook in which to rest. Sadly, only a few minutes passed before Tooth saw the Northern Lights, the Aurora Borealis. Something, was wrong.

Calling out to Baby Tooth and a few others, Tooth and her fairies raced across the sky to North's Palace in the North Pole. "Ah good, you're here. I got a message from MiM (Man in Moon) and he needs us," said Santa, known as North to his friends as Bunny and Tooth, his fellow Guardians, came to a halt in front of him.

"What was the message, North?" asked Bunny as he took an Easter egg from his satchel and began to paint it. North became more serious and said, "Apparently, MiM needs us to come to his palace on the moon and help him retrieve the last ever-bright flower seed."

"Wait!", yelled Bunny as Sandman drifted in, cautiously. "That flower is not supposed to exist anymore,".

"Well, that's why it's the LAST ever-bright seed," Tooth emphasized.

There were at least two problems about going to the moon at that time though. One was the fact that the newest Guardian had still not shown up after waiting for thirty minutes. The second, being that North could simply_ not_ find the snow globe that led to MiM's palace.

North and Sandy went to North's office to find the special snow globe while the Easter Bunny and Tooth waited impatiently for Jack Frost. Baby Tooth and her fairy friends, meanwhile, were busy in North's kitchen secretly discussing Baby Tooth's newest discovery. The little fairies could simply not determine what kind of leaf it was. Baby Tooth decided that she'd ask Tooth, the fairy leader, what it was when they had the chance.

Stray papers and bits of ice were everywhere as North continued to tear apart his office in search of the snow globe that they needed. While North's back was turned, Sandy noted that above them was a shelf of snow globes that they had not yet checked. He tried to tell this to North, but he wasn't listening.

"I can't find it! I don't know where it went. We haven't used it in so long," said North as Sandy made a last ditch attempt to get his friend's attention.

Grabbing a stray elf by the ankles, the Sandman shook it ferociously so that the bell on his hat jingled loudly.

"What?!", North questioned, turning to Sandy. The Sandman pointed above his head at the shelf, tapping his foot. Sure enough, right in the center of the snow globes on the shelf was one labeled Man in the Moon.

"We found it!", North cheered as he burst back into the room where Tooth and Bunny were still nervously eying the doors and windows in case Jack Frost decided to join the party. After it was decided that they couldn't wait any long, which was quite a stretch considering that Sandy was usually the patient one, they left for the sleigh. ("I _knew _that troublemaker wouldn't come!" said Bunnymund.) A note written for Jack informed him where they were going and when they planned to be back.

Jack was only late because he'd been having fun with his first two believers, Sophie and Jamie. Jack had promised the children that he wouldn't be gone too long and that when he came back, they'd have a giant snowball fight.

However, when Jack got back to the North Pole and read his fellow Guardians' note, he realized that he'd be gone longer than he said. Walking over to a bench and sitting down, Jack re-read the note and caught another level of meaning in it.

"Wait! How do they expect _me_ to manage the Tooth Fairy's work and run the North Pole at the same time? _Plus_ bring winter to the world, I thought I was the irresponsible one?!" In the bowels of the workshop, a crash suddenly rang out. Sighing, Jack flew off to see what had happened. He knew that things had gone wrong on a number of levels when he ran into Phil the yeti.

Phil was currently holding two mini-fairies by their wings and trying to shake off a very hyper elf from his foot. Jack, after resisting the urge to laugh, dropped out of the air, touched the manic elf with his staff, and froze him instantly. Even though Jack couldn't fully understand the yeti's language, he got the gist.

Following the direction of the agitated yeti's finger, Jack skidded to a halt in front of North's kitchen door. He heard a shout of warning from behind him but it was too late. The kitchen door swung open. BANG! Jack hit the deck just in time to avoid getting impaled by a crowd of mini-fairies as they burst out the door.

After peeling his face off the floor, Jack's eyes saw what could only be described as absolute chaos. Mini-fairies were zipping around in the kitchen so fast that you could barely see them. Cake mix and yellow icing covered the floor like a field of daisies and elves were shoving cookies in each other's faces.

Jack rolled out of the way of a remote-controlled car as he exclaimed, "How did this happen?". He made the mistake of looking behind him for a second. Before he could get a better grip on his staff, something jerked it away.

"HEY!", Jack shouted. "Give that back!" Three elves on a miniature bi-plane had swept by, grabbing Jack's staff, and flew out of the kitchen before Jack could catch them. Scrambling to his feet and dashing after the elves, who were laughing crazily, Jack jumped up, his fingers almost catching the tail of the miniature plane. Suddenly, Jack was distracted by a hummingbird zooming around his face as he crashed back to the ground.

"Baby Tooth?!", Jack exploded. Baby Tooth's hand held a small, dried up leaf that she used to wave at Jack. He almost didn't notice the leaf but while deciding whether to chase after his staff or escape the crowd of mini-fairies that had begun to crowd around him, he finally saw the leaf. Little did he know that the leaf was the source of his current troubles.

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Jack tried to question the little fairy about the leaf but all Baby Tooth did was smile and zoom away in the opposite direction. She remembered the time when she and her friends had been anticipating the moment when the Tooth Fairy would tell them what kind of leaf they'd found. Their excitement had grown so big that they could not wait any longer.

The little fairies decided to taste the leaf. This was not a wise decision because they didn't know that it was a tea leaf, and this tea leaf contained caffeine. Mini-fairies only need to eat a few crumbs to sustain themselves. Just as too many cups of coffee can make a human over-active, eating a few flakes of the leaf was enough to make the fairies super-hyper.

With their tiny minds on over-drive, Baby Tooth and her friends decided that the elves might appreciate their discovery. Anyone who's been to the North Pole knows that anything given to the elves with caffeine or sugar in it most certainly spells disaster.

Jack had just about had enough of all this chaos. In the past fifteen minutes, he had run from one end of Santa's workshop to the other, dodging flying fairies, all sorts of pastries, and leapt over stacks of knocked-over toys. He'd even had to climb seven flights of stairs and run into several yetis. North was going to be furious because his workshop was a mess!

On the fifth floor of North's workshop, Jack gasped for air, sitting collapsed on the floor from exhaustion. All this time, he'd been following Baby Tooth. He closed his eyes with the mistaken impression that he could rest for one second in the midst of this mess.

In a moment of realization, Jack jerked his head up. A few months prior to this fiasco, he'd learned that there was a limited list of beings that could not use his staff: warm spirits like Summer, humans, and dark spirits like Pitch Black, the Nightmare King. Unfortunately, that meant that the elves (with what little magic they possessed) could still sort of use his staff to freeze things. Whoops.

Jack hoped that the elves were not smart enough to learn how to fly. "Flying elves would just _make my day_," Jack thought sarcastically. He pushed himself quickly off the floor and ran more slowly to the eighth floor of the top of the workshop. Jack looked for any signs of elf use of his staff.

Up close, each mess he'd seen on the lower floors of the workshop had its own disastrous consequence. One mess was in North's living room where Jack had encountered scores of battling mini-fairies and elves who'd been throwing cookies and raining eggnog down on each other. Under different circumstances, Jack would have _loved_ to join the fun but with the current state of things, the sane beings in the palace – Jack and the yetis - weren't having much fun at all. And this was coming from the Guardian of Fun himself!

Had Jack not looked around the workshop two times, he'd have missed the faint trail of ice in one of the corners. The elves, after discovering that the staff's owner was on to them, set a trap. Before Jack Frost could pull his foot back, it tripped a wire that resulted in a cascade of pink paint and flour onto him. Several of the yetis also were splattered with the odd mixture, as well.

Few things could make Jack Frost as angry as he was in the following moments. Every creature within a twenty foot radius stuttered to a halt. Afraid of what the young Guardian might do to them, the elves, almost looking guilty, shoved the staff back at its irritated owner.

"Thank you very much," Jack hissed. And although the elves had returned the staff, Jack went ahead and froze them anyway. They were annoying him greatly. When Jack and the yetis acknowledged that they were covered with flour. pink paint, and bits of pastry from the elf food fight, it was to Jack's horror that he'd forgotten one, minor detail.

In between unsuccessful attempts at cleaning paint off his clothes and ensuring that unfrozen were kept away from him, Jack had forgotten the mini-fairies. Above him, a faint buzzing sound started to fill the room. Jack cautiously looked up. About twenty mini-fairies, looking like a floating field of wildflowers, squealed with delight at the sight of his pearly white teeth. They all dove straight for him as Jack broke the world record for fast-flying during his escape. There was only one place that he knew that he'd be safe from fairies, elves, and eruptive disasters: North's office, the one place where a mess hadn't bloomed.

Jack slammed the office door just in time to avoid becoming a pin board from the mini fairies, and lost track of time as he tried to wipe off the paint-flour mess. A few days later, the Guardians fell out of a portal onto the floor.

"Bunny! Get off me!," North nudged the Easter Bunny, prompting him to stand up. "Sorry, mate. You can't really control where you land when you're traveling in a portal," Bunny said. "Not to mention that coming back from the moon is a little disorienting," emphasized Tooth.

All the Guardians enthusiastically agreed with Tooth until they got their first full look at what was around them. North nearly screamed. Patting his friend on the shoulder, Bunny stared wide-eyed at the floor.

"I don't know what in Grim Reaper's name happened but does anyone remember pink footprints on the floor?", asked Bunny. Sandy responded by wildly gesturing to the messy heaps around them, as if to say, "Of all the messes, you choose the pink footprints!" While some of the Guardians tried to comfort North in his distress, Bunny tracked the pink footprints all around the workshop. He tried to avoid unconscious mini-fairies and elves as well as slippery piles of goo on the floor.

Eventually, he arrived in front of North's office. The door looked like it'd been pecked in many places and mini-fairies were strewn all over the floor, fast asleep. One look at the door, and he knew that his fellow Guardians had to see it. Tooth was becoming slightly distressed at the sight of so many fairies in a deep sleep and was relieved to learn from Sandy that they'd be awake soon enough.

Tooth sighed as she wearily reached for the big door handle. Quite suddenly, the door opened from the inside. Bunny burst out laughing. Jack Frost stood with one hand on his staff, closely resembling a pink-and-white Easter ornament. "There is nothing _**funny**_ about this, OK?", Jack snarled. This only made Bunny laugh even harder.

With the Guardians staring at his peculiar clothing color and hair styling, Jack promptly stormed off to find a place where he could peacefully clean up. "So, Jack. Are you going to tell us what happened?" Tooth asked when Jack finally returned. "Just give me a moment, OK?" Jack said, too tired to give a long explanation. And even then, Sanderson Mansnoozie (Sandy) had the guts to add the fact that the second week of advent, was about plants…though not all of them caffeinated tea leaves.

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**This is also based off of a day in my life where my friend had WAY TO MUCH SUGER FOR BREAKFAST like coke,doritos, ice cream ect. It was pretty bad. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:I do not own _Rise of the Guardians. _  
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**Sorry, this chapter is somewhat short...but the week decided to suddenly end on me!**

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**Week Three– Honors ****the animals of the Earth **

Jamie Bennett knew something was definitely wrong when a medium sized object hit his window with a loud _thunk_. It was 7:45 pm and Jamie had been doing his homework when he turned to look at the window in surprise. With the possibility that after two and a half weeks that Jack Frost had finally returned to fulfill his promise of a snowball fight, Jamie leapt to the window and yanked it open.

Only the soft hoot of owls greeted him. "That was odd," Jamie thought as he padded out of his room and down the stairs to see if someone was out on the front porch. Opening the front door, Jamie could not see anything unusual. Shivering with the cold, he was about to close the door when he heard something call his name.

"Hey, Jamie! Look down, at the ground!" the voice squeaked. Hugging himself against the cold, Jamie whirled around and gazed at his front stoop. He was somewhat shocked to see a small, white-haired rabbit sitting on the ground looking up at him with an irresistible, winsome look in his big blue eyes.

Most people might think they were going crazy if they heard a rabbit talk but Jamie was somewhat more familiar with this possibility; he'd met the Guardians, for heaven's sake. With a perplexed look in this eyes, Jamie stared at the little creature and slowly asked, "Did you, um, just talk?" he asked the bunny.

The rabbit hopped closer to Jamie and answered, "Yeah, I did. I know you don't recognized me right now…", the rabbit trailed off into silence. With a soft laugh, Jamie said, "Well, you can't be the Easter Bunny because I've seen him big and tiny. So, who are you, exactly?"

"Who am I exactly? How many creatures do you know that have white hair!" Jamie practically dropped to the floor laughing with an important realization. "Jack? As in Jack Frost? Wait, OH NO! How did you get yourself turned into a bunny?" Jamie asked. The boy's laughter floated upstairs and awakened Jamie's little sister.

_LATER...about three minutes..._

"For the last time, Sophie! This is not the Easter Bunny!" Jamie reminded his sister as he guarded little Jack Frost back up in his room. Sophie stared at her big brother for a few moments and then reached out to touch the furry creature that had come into her home. Luckily, Jamie's mother didn't see him hiding a bunny under his covers as she took Sophie back to her bedroom.

Jack Frost's pink nose poked out from under the covers. "The answer to your question about how I got turned into a _bunny_ of all things, started out as a little accident. I'd been running away from elves who are _still_ intent on seeing me wear the shoes they made for my guardian ceremony, when I tripped accidently over a few Easter eggs and landed on a stack of snow globes. Apparently, that combination of magic will turn one into a bunny. Sadly, I don't know how to turn back into myself."

"Oh, boy! The Easter Bunny will have a field day with this one," Jamie laughed again. Jack didn't think this was so funny. After some more complaining about his current situation, Jack finally asked, "Since I'm so ordinary now, how should I tell the other Guardians about this?" Jamie looked at him. "Ordinary? Seriously Jack?" He didn't get a reply.

Jack's question about the guardians required some contemplation. Finally, at 11 pm, Jamie came up with the perfect answer. "Sophie has a loose tooth. If we could make it fall out faster, I'm betting that one of the mini-fairies would show up and we could contact Tooth," suggested Jamie. Jack agreed, it only plan that they had. But hopefully, they wouldn't use it.

Meanwhile, back at the warren, North had just wrenched Bunny's door open and fallen over the threshold. Tooth had been flying nearby and as North fell over, she crashed into him and tumbled further into the room.

"Bunnymund, would you explain why you called us here, instead of simply coming to the North Pole?" grumbled North. "Because, mates, as much as I hate to admit this, Jack's missing and I do kind of care what happens to Frostbite. Also, we haven't heard _or _been pranked from him for a full day." Bunny looked somewhat troubled as he closed the door behind his fellow Guardians. Later, Sandy came in giggling. "Are you ok, Sandy?" Bunny asked. In response, the sandman 'said' something about a memory of a funny animal week in advent a long time ago. "Not the time Sandy…" North grumbled.


	4. Chapter 4

**Week Four – **_**The light of humanity, those who can choose to bring goodness to every living thing**_

The Guardians saved looking for Jack in his hometown of Burgess for last, knowing from previous experience that it was better to go to Jamie's house when he was awake. When the Guardians landed beside Jack's lake in Burgess, they tumbled out of the sleight and immediately searched the surrounding area for their missing friend.

By 3 o'clock in the morning, the Guardians regrouped by the sleigh, completely exhausted. "Personally, I don't care if it is 3 in the morning. We have to go to Jamie's house," said Tooth. Back into North's sleigh they climbed and soared off to the boy's house.

One by one, as quietly as they could, the Guardians slipped through Jamie's bedroom window. Just as they were about to awaken him, Bunny's hand hit the bedside lamp and it crashed to the floor. Momentarily forgetting where they were, North swore out of extreme frustration. Jamie woke up. "You know," speaking to the rabbit, "you'd think they'd remember about crawling through my window from the last time," poking a white bundle of fur that had been sleeping on his pillow.

Jack the Rabbit blinked as he took one look at the visitors and promptly fell off the bed in surprise. Laughing, Jamie looked over the side of the bed and pulled the rabbit onto his lap. Before he could explain Jack's situation to the Guardians, Tooth gently asked, "Jamie, why are you talking to the rabbit?"

Jamie hesitated for a second. "Umm…" Jack loudly started to cut in when suddenly North had to clap his hand over Easter Bunny's mouth before he reacted. His voice muffled behind North's big hand, Bunnymund words still escaped, "That little rabbit just TALKED!"

Jamie shook his head in amusement, as he and Jack the Rabbit shared a look. From that look they decided they'd tell the Guardians a story. "This rabbit wasn't always like this," Jamie began. "Actually, he was a human but one day, he had a small magical accident that caused him to be in this rabbit form." The Guardians looked at each other, then at Jamie. "Please continue," said North.

"I found the rabbit outside on my porch, and I couldn't just leave him in the cold. So I brought him inside. Guess what I named him?" asked Jamie.

The Sandman rolled his eyes, making a large question mark above his head. Every Guardian knew what Jamie would call any pet. "I named him Jack," said Jamie. Tooth flew closer to get a closer look at the bunny rabbit. Jack as a rabbit was enjoying Jamie's story and knew to stay quiet during Jamie's guessing game.

"Speaking of a Jack Jamie, ours is missing and we were wondering if you've seen him anytime recently," asked North as he removed his hand from Bunnymund's face. Jamie smiled. "Yeah, I have," he answered. "Do you know where he is now?" North continued to quiz the boy for information.

"Ahhhhh…you're looking at him?" Jamie answered like it was a question, receiving very perplexed looks from the Guardians. Suddenly, an almost audible thought clicked into place in the Tooth Fairy's mind. "Hang on a second! Are you trying to tell us that..." Jack burst out, "Yes! It is me! I know this looks weird, OK? Please don't laugh at me. _Kangaroo I was talking to you._"

The four other Guardians shoved a knuckle in their mouth to stifle their laughter. It was almost too funny to be true, but it was. This was quickly confirmed by Baby Tooth. Before anyone could stop the little fairy, she whipped out from behind the Tooth Fairy and slammed into the rabbit, trying to hug his ears and pry open his mouth at the same time.

"Yep! That's definitely Jack Frost!," the Tooth Fairy said. With his paws, Jack gently pried the jubilant mini-fairy off his head. Baby Tooth didn't appreciate this and simply resorted to petting the fur on his back. Her tiny fingers revealed an unknown fact about Jack Frost: He was very ticklish! "Who would've known?" Bunny smirked at this new finding.

Sandy was finally able to get his fellow guardians attention a few moments later, pointing rather crossly at Jamie's bedroom window. "Hello, my children," the Moon spoke gently as its light beamed into Jamie's bedroom, forming a white-ish circle.

"Hello, Manny. As you see, we're in need of a little help," said North.

"Yes. Oh hello Jackson, you make a very nice rabbit. I can tell you a way to fix this spell," said the Moon. Tooth asked, "Which is…?" The Moon then replied, "Call in Mother Nature. She will guide you the rest of the way. Farewell for now."

Jack gathered from the Guardians' mutterings that they had some _history_ with Mother Nature. One of the worst was the time that the mini-fairies had accidently lost some of Mother Nature's memories. When Jack asked Tooth if the lost memories were ever found, she replied with a quiet, "Yes, but…" So something must have gotten ugly there.

"How do we call Mother Nature?" asked Jack. Tooth replied, "Well, you basically talk to the ground, oh and by the way, call her Rose." Since the stairs weren't very well an option for (most of) the Guardians, they had to _climb out_ Jamie's window again. Jack the Rabbit, on the other hand, was carried down the stairs by Jamie and they met the Guardians at North's sleigh.

Puzzled at first by what Tooth was doing, Jack bounded out of Jamie's arm. He landed near the Tooth Fairy who was whispering to a patch of brownish grass poking out of the snow. The Guardians and the child Jamie who hadn't met Mother Nature got a shock when a soft sing-song voice said, "I hear that you need my help." The beautiful form of a twelve year old girl stood before them.

Jamie had been standing quietly beside the Guardians, and stumbled back surprised, into a snow drift. Sputtering, he asked, "You're Mother Nature?". Her sing-song laughter filled the air as she replied, "Hello, Jamie. Yes, I am Mother Nature, the Guardian of Life. And I request that you call me Rose."

Jamie was too scared to respond with anything but a whispered, "OK". After pulling Jamie out of the snow, the Easter Bunny and the other Guardians explained their problem to Rose. They let her know that the Man in the Moon had advised them to seek her help.

Mother Nature's gaze was stern as she turned to the Tooth Fairy and said, "Ah, Tooth. You of all beings should know about this. Don't you remember the library that I created after my memories were misplaced?" An embarrassed Tooth looked away for a moment, and mumbled, "Do you mean _the_ library?"

"_What_ library?" North asked.

With another soft laugh, Rose waved her hand and they all fell through a tunnel that opened in the earth leading to a large cavern. For the first time in his life, the Easter Bunny understood why some beings were afraid to travel in his tunnels. Maybe North's sleigh wasn't so over-rated after all.

Getting to their feet, with Jamie holding Jack the Rabbit, the Guardians and the boy approached Mother Nature, standing in front of two golden double-doors. "Welcome to my library," she said, putting her hand on one of the ruby door handles. "But beware. This place holds many secrets and ancient wisdom. Each of the creations beyond these doors holds the past, the present, and the future."

With that, the doors swung open. And Rose, Mother Nature, the Guardian of Life evaporated into mist. "Tooth? Please, um, could you explain?" Bunny pointed at the second set of doors a few feet away.

"Well, when the fairies and I lost Rose's memories, well, she created the Guardian Library. The Library holds books of all that has happened, all that is happening and all that will ever happen to any immortal. And… every book has a Quill, one that writes it all down."

That was a lot of information to process. Tooth apparently had been there before and when the guardians and Jamie asked why this place was never mentioned, the reply was simply that it was just a bad memory. _Since when_ _was this not important,_ just didn't seem to register.

"_**To open these doors,**_

_**Innocence is chosen.**_

_**Locks and Keys will not abide,**_

_**For what you need is a pure human child."**_

The Guardians, including Jack the rabbit, all looked at Jamie. "What?" The boy asked. Tooth grabbed his hand and pointed at the hand print in the left gold and this time emerald door. He got what to do then. Squeezing his eyes shut, Jamie handed Jack to North and placed his hand in the print. A rush of air whipped around the six of them and the doors blasted open. "Whoa!" All of the guardians exclaimed loudly at the sight before them.

Pedestals of every element and color held huge books of the same elemental color and material. On top of each book, a quill was literally, racing back and

forth across the pages. Some books looked not used very much and others were worn.

"Oh and guys, watch out for the Guardian Books." added Tooth.

"The Guardian Books? Like the ones you said were on the tables?"

"No Jamie. Like, the _Guardian _Books!"

"Okay Tooth, we are obviously not all on the same page here…"

"_Spirit of Kwanza_… BUNNYMUND! The _Guard-ian Books!"_

"Jack, has Tooth gone crazy… not to be rude or anything,"

"I don't know… hey, does anyone hear that? Besides me and probably the Kanga here?"

"_Excuse me!?"_

"_**I MEAN THE GUARDIAN BOOKS! AS IN THE ONES HEADED RIGHT FOR OUR FACES!"**_

"Okay, whatever you…**WAIT. THOSE ONES?!"**

"_SHASTACOVICH_, RUN!"

Sure enough, three giant metal books were zooming straight at the six guardians, mini-fairies and all. With a yell of "DUCK!", Tooth pushed everyone under a table. After going back and forth for a couple more seconds, the books disappeared back into wherever they came from. "Nobody. Move. A. Muscle." Bunny whispered. The others didn't listen though and got up. The Easter Bunny joined them again as the stood in front of three GIANT books in the middle of the room. Dreamsand made an exclamation mark above Sandy's head.

Tooth explained that the three large books belonged to Mother Nature, Father Time the Man In The Moon. After staring at these two central books, the Guardians began to search for Jack's book. After looking at the books circling Mother Nature's and the Man In The Moon, Jack hopped over to Sandy and asked about the books on other immortals. Tooth and North joined the exchange while Bunny and Jamie continue to search for Jack's book.

Tooth explained, "There are many immortals that the Man In the Moon and Mother Nature created. Mother Nature gave us new life and the Man In The Moon gave us magic and our powers. That group of six books over there on pedestals are about the Avatars. Each book is about one of the Avatars."

"Who are the Avatars?" Jack asked.

"The Avatars are spirits of the elements somewhat like you Jack, except that they control an element of nature and not a season," Tooth continued. "The Avatars received their powers from Mother Nature, not from the Man in the Moon."

Suddenly, Jamie shouted from the other side of the circular room. "Hey, is this it?" he asked. Jamie pointed at a white book that was resting on a pedestal made of ice with frosted designs on its sides. A quill was dancing across its pages writing in silver ink. Lifting the cover up to take a look at it, Bunny affirmed that the book was indeed about Jack Frost.

"I still don't understand how this is supposed to help Jack return to his Guardian form," North yawned, rubbing his eyes. Tooth remembered something about the library that Mother Nature had told her hundreds of years ago.

"Guys, these books work the same way as my tooth boxes that store children's memories. Maybe we're supposed to find something in Jack's memories."

Looking almost embarrassed, Jack quickly countered Tooth. "Um, well that's not really…Jamie's here and…" Jack stuttered as he crouched lower to the ground. "Oh stuff it, show pony. Tooth, how do we do that?" Bunny reached down and grabbed Jack the Rabbit's tail and hauled him into Jamie's arms again. "If I remember correctly…" Tooth began.

"You're the Guardian of Memories, yet you manage to forget so much; that's quite a feat Tooth!" North laughed. Not at all discouraged, the Tooth Fairy took a squirming Jack Rabbit and just before she placed him on the frosty book, she motioned that the three other Guardians should place their hand on Jack's book, too. "What about me?" Jamie jumped up and down at the thought of another adventure with the Guardians.

The Sandman used dreamsand to hold Jamie to the pedestal and Jamie, smiling like crazy, slapped his hand to the page. Jack the Rabbit was then dropped onto his book and with a rush of snow and ice, the room disappeared as all of us entered his memories.

**North's POV**

"…All that we have, all that we are, and all that we will ever be," I heard myself say and saw once again the day that Jack became a Guardian of Childhood. "I remember that." Jamie whispered beside me. Well, he should remember. It was only eight months ago! The current Jack not-really-Frost looked longingly at his human shaped self. After a bit, the memory changed and we were in Wichita, Kansas and Jack was climbing into the sleigh, sighing about his staff.

"Ouch," Jamie commented. "What in the Hall-oween Spirit are we supposed to find?" Bunny looked giddy to be in a place with infinite causes for embarrassment. Even Tooth didn't know what to look for. I looked at Jack, who shrugged. After five more memories, I realized that we'd started in current memories, but we were going back in time. "Jack, I hope you know that we are all sorry for Easter," I said. Jack, even in rabbit form, smiled a true, genuine smile. I knew then we were forgiven for last March.

The memories were getting sadder. "Sorry Jamie, you shouldn't be seeing this." Jack shook his head, his ears flopping up and down. We had started seeing the darker memories, of the 300 years Jack Frost was alone. Sandy, Tooth and Bunny and I all knew these were the years Jack wasn't proud of. Not that after seeing his pain and angst, we were either. "Jack, you are family now. You are different." I rested a hand on his white furry back. We went back so far that Jamie stopped counting the dates. I was surprised when we went into Jack's human memories. Suddenly, I heard Jack inhale sharply as a new memory started. I wondered what was so bad about this one in particular.

"Be careful!" We saw a woman who had to be Jack's mother call out to the human Jack and a girl that wasn't in any of the other memories. "Jack, who is…" Tooth racked her brain for some remembrance of the girl. "Just watch," Jack sat on a pile of snow over-looking a familiar lake. I sensed a difference about this memory, something sad.

"Isn't that the lake in Burgess, where you banished the Nightmare King?", I nearly fell over. I'd forgotten Jamie was even there. He had watched most of it all in silence. "Yes, but I don't see how this helps," Sandy made the words above his head. Jack shushed us.

"_Jack, I'm scared!"_

That was when I saw Jack's connection to the girl: She was his sister. "Oh I get it now!" I said to the group at large. For the first time, I didn't receive a reply.

"_I know, I know. But you'll…you're gonna be fine."_

"_No! No we wont!"_

"_Would I trick you?" _Everyone laughed at that one. It was just so…_Jack. _

"_Yes, you __**always **__trick me!"_

Jamie sighed and said "Heh, I can relate to that one."

Bunny's expression had been fun-filled but like me, was starting to see the danger in the situation. "Jack, the _ice?_", I nodded at the cracks forming. "It's fine." The white rabbit at Jamie's feet looked away. I didn't argue.

"_Ok, well, not…not this time. You just gotta, you have to believe in me. Hey, want to play a game? We're gonna play hopscotch! Like we play every day."_

I cringed as the icy web grew bigger. Tooth's eyes were wide with worry, but all Jack did was stare at an old memory. "Why is he like this?", Bunny muttered in my ear.

"_Um, it's as easy as…one,"_ Jack slipped as he took a step toward shore but pretended it was funny. _"Two…!"_ Everyone but Jack as the white rabbit breathed in relief.

I thought, "Something is definatly going to happen as Jack coaches his sister onto thicker ice."

"Oh, no," I whispered as I saw the inevitable disaster coming. As Jack's sister took the last step toward safer, thicker ice, Jack called out "_Three!"_ He used the wooden staff at his feet to hook his sister and sweep her off the thin ice. The momentum of Jack's powerful motion propelled him back across the slippery ice onto the thinnest patch. He smiled, but then it cracked under his weight and he fell into the dark, frigid pond water.

That was the first time that I understand how and why Jack became the Spirit of Winter. I laughed as Jamie's terrified eyes grow big with wonder as a moonbeam drew Jack out of the pond, and we all chuckled watching Jack discover his staff's frost powers and ability to fly on the wind.

The light mood quickly became more somber as we witnessed Jack's dismay when he realized that people couldn't see him and how he felt the shock of being walked through. I thought that Jack's memories were ending as we watched him disappear into the dark forest.

However, at least one memory remained. I heard Jack the Rabbit whisper as we all watched a delighted Jack riding gusts of wind and leaving frost patterns everywhere he went, "This is one of my first fun memories as Jack Frost!"

With his hand, Jack Frost created a glowing blue snowflake that drifted over our heads. Almost sub-consciously, Tooth reached up and caught it in her hands. Strangely, it didn't melt. Simultaneously, a wave of realization reached over us. Jamie asked, "Is that snowflake what we're looking for?"

Tooth nodded with a giddy smile. She placed the blue snowflake on the white furry back of Jack the Rabbit who began to glow with the same blue light. Suddenly, we were all jolted out of Jack's memories and back to the library of the Guardians.

The last to arrive back was Jack Frost who literally, fell from nowhere. I cringed at the loud crash and his yell of "Ouch!". Finally, Jack was himself! Jamie ran up and hugged his friend, the Guardian of Fun. That's when I remembered a rather important detail. Yanking my watch out of my pocket, I saw that it was already 7 a.m., Christmas Eve day.

I also recalled that many of the presents I was to deliver were damaged or destroyed during the caffeinated-tea-leaf episode a few weeks ago. "Oh, Hall-oween spirit! It's Christmas Eve Day!" I shouted at my fellow Guardians. "How am I supposed to deliver presents to all the children if they're not all ready now?"

Jamie's jaw dropped as he moaned, "Oh, no. Good luck, Santa!" Yeah, I was going to need it. Then, out of the blue, Jack Frost gave one of the most generous offers I've ever heard him make. "Well, North. The four of us could help you, you know." Huh, and that's from the record holder on the naughty list… maybe if he kept this up he _could_ be on the nice list after all.

After dropping Jamie off back at his home, the five of us returned via snow globe portal to the North Pole and got straight to work. With my friends' help, we'd make this the BEST Christmas ever! "And by the way, my fellow Guardians. Remember, Christmas Eve is the one night that my reindeer can talk…" I added as we were lugging the bags to the launch room.

"_Oye. Not __**this **__again," _Tooth sighed

"The reindeer…they can talk?! I did _NOT_ see that on coming…" Jack stopped flying in complete shock for a few seconds and fell into my bulging bag of gifts, almost becoming a present himself!

"Cupid's Arrow…not the _Dasher, Comet and Blitzen _trio! Oh, and _Rudolph_, he is going _DOWN _for Christmas of 1983!" Bunny muttered sourly. Ah yes, I remembered… now _that _was one weird Christmas. _Reindeer dance-off and all._

"What happened Christmas of 1983, Kangaroo? Was it worse than when I froze you to the sleigh and then it took off?" Jack asked, climbing out of the bag and retrieving his. Sandy, Tooth, Bunny and I shared an awkwardly knowing look, and then Bunny answered.

"Not even close Frosty, not even close. But just be aware that I still have a perfect excuse to get you back."

I sighed again as yet_ another_ argument sprang up between Jack Frost and Bunnymund.

_This was going to be a very long night…and my reindeer are quite social creatures._

**The End**

For now…


End file.
